


Terrible Twos and Red Pens

by DMichelleWrites



Series: Ficlets [13]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Children of Characters, F/M, Ficlet, Gen, Married Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 10:37:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8976271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DMichelleWrites/pseuds/DMichelleWrites
Summary: Story inspired by this tweet "In the hands of a toddler, a pen isn’t a pen. It’s a weapon of mass destruction."Can William handle watching his three younger siblings while all his parents are out on a double date? The answer to that is maybe until baby Ava grabs one of her Mommy's red pens. Destruction and hilarity shall ensue.





	

**Author's Note:**

> If you're wondering, "Hey, D. It's December 24th, where's the holiday story?" I already wrote one here called [_Holiday Greetings_](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8880187) I often write where my heart and mind take me in the moment, and sometimes they pull me in five different directions. This story isn't explicitly, but totally could be connected to my other story _Sacrifice_ linked as the first part in this series. But you don't have to read that to enjoy this, and please note the rating for Sacrifice is explicit.

( _Originally via 301 "The Calm"_ )

"Are you sure Will's gonna be okay?" Felicity wonders. Her pearly white teeth are a stark contrast to her patent red lipstick.

Her husband assures, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb, "They're gonna be fine."

"Oliver, three kids under the age of ten is a lot to handle."

"Hon." He reiterates, promising as they pull into a parking space. "I told him to call us if there was any trouble."

"I feel bad. We did kind of rope him into babysitting."

Oliver points out, opening his wife's door for her. "Hey, he could've said no."

"Still." Felicity reminds, her heels hitting the pavement with a loud clack, "Bribing him by using your Ducati was a sneaky move Sam's gonna kill you."

Her husband shrugs, "I'll talk to her at dinner tonight."

"Ugh," She believes, looking up at the ceiling because lord, give her strength, "That's going to go over so well."

He smiles, "Heard that, Honey."

"You were supposed to." His wife chimes, clutching Oliver's hand as they stroll inside the restaurant.

The Queens are just about ready for a rare double date night with the Disneys- no, not those Disneys. After reuniting with Samantha and William just before Tommy was born eight years ago, Samantha found love with Felicity's IT guy at her own tech conglomerate, Queen Incorporated. While it wasn't exactly love at first sight, Samantha and Christopher's love grew rapidly over early morning coffee dates at Jitters and trips to the Starling Museum of Modern Art. Eight years fly by, and now here they were on a double. With Jericho Wilson eliminated, Star City has nearly returned to its former glory. Many businesses and neighborhoods have been slowly rebuilt. One of those establishments includes Corrado's - the site of Oliver's and Felicity's first date-date night. This little Italian bistro has become quite the exclusive hot spot. Well, exclusive if your little sister isn't the current mayor and your wife doesn't own a Fortune 500 company that formidably  rivals Apple. The eatery looks just as they remember elegant, intimate, and bathed in a soft candle lit glow.

Amazingly enough, Felicity found the exact outfit she wore on her and Oliver's very first date. Granted, after having three kids, she wears her weight differently now. Her hips are wider. Her tummy is a little rounder, but she still remains fairly fit, especially since Oliver began training her finally after Ava was born. Besides she could balloon up or shrink down, and Oliver would still see her as the sexiest woman in the world. He just wants her to be happy and healthy, although the look on her face now reads other. Before the couple approaches the maître d', he notices Felicity is checking out her ample backside in the reflective glass panels of the front door, doing that little crinkly thing with her eyebrows.

Oliver's voice drops to a husky whisper, his calloused hand travel errantly down the zipper of her dress until he subtly reaches her rear, "I think you look perfect, Felicity."

"Really?" Felicity doubts, smoothing out the wrinkles in her dress, "Because I feel a little silly. Maybe I should've worn a a different dress."

He continues, pressing a gentle kiss to her wavy blonde locks, "And maybe I can't wait to show you how gorgeous you look in or out of that amazing dress after the kids are asleep."

"Speaking of the kids." She brings up, digging through her clutch for her little Q-Phone, "Do you think we should call the kids to make sure they ate okay? You know Ava and Mia are picky eaters."

"I know, which is why I told Will if the girls don't want pizza to heat some dinosaur chicken nuggets and Bird's Eye veggies."

"But what about..?"

"Hon." He chastises, playfully pinching her butt in interruption, "Relax. We're going to back home to four fed and sleepy kids. I promise."

"Mm... Oliver." She mentions, her tone is meant to be admonishing, though amusement cuts in. "You promise or you hope?"

"Ugh." He replies, waiting in this endlessly long line. The food better be worth it for this snail pace of a wait for their reservations, "Let's go with a bit of both."

Felicity huffs out a laugh, "Okay."

With a couple steps forward, Oliver and Felicity are officially able to reach the maître d at the hostess' stand, Oliver announces, "Queen, party of four."

"Is the rest of your party here?" The man inquires.

"Oh, no." Felicity sighs heavily.

Thankfully, just in the nick of time, Samantha and Christopher walk in Corrado's with great haste and slightly squeaky shoes.

"Hi, Hi!" Samantha calls out, weaving through an awaiting and disgruntled crowd, "We're here. I got caught up at the paper. Sorry."

"No worries." Oliver brushes off.

Felicity adds, "We're just glad you're both here."

"It was a little difficult finding it out without my phone, but we made it."

"You can have it back when I don't catch you play Galaga during our weekly meetings," his boss addresses sternly.

As the foursome heads to their table, Oliver says in disbelief, "You took away his phone, Felicity."

"Just Chris' work one." Samantha fills in, sitting down beside Felicity. "He still has his personal cell. Girl, I swear I should've thought of that myself during all those times I caught him playing Clash of Clans during date night."

"Mmhm." Felicity concurs, giving her friend a high-five.

They chat before a sommelier waits on their table with a wine list. Meanwhile at the Queen household, the dryer in the garage is rumbling with Will's weekly dirty laundry. Originally, he just wanted to come home for the weekend to have a plan to crash and do a load of laundry without retrieving a roll of quarters. Bright multicolored bowls are glugging and sloshing with water. These are the times he went out of Washington for art school, but no, he just had to go to Starling University to kick of his collegiate plans for graphic design. Stupid lack of distance and baseball scholarship. And his parents, don't even get him started. It's like they planned this.

"Hey, Will, can you watch the kids?" His father requests.

He complains, "I just came home to crash and do a load of laundry."

"I'll let you borrow my Ducati for a week."

Bribery is certainly not in any good parenting handbook, but this is definitely worth Will's while.Usually, his father would be pissed off if someone, especially Uncle Roy, so much as touches his precious red, sleek Ducati Diavel, but his parents must really be desperate. Besides, he got his motorcycle license a year after his driver's license, and it would really impress this cute brunette in theater, Sarah.  How bad could watching his younger siblings be? Dinner just a few short minutes ago was interesting to say the least. Pepperoni pizza was piping hot along with dinosaur chicken nuggets and Bird's Eye veggie platters.

"Ow!" Tommy yells, attempting to chew on a much too hot bite. He winces, just this short of crying, "Ow, hot, hot, hot!"

Palming his face, his brother instructs, "Dude, I told you to wait a few more minutes."

Despite the temperature of the bite, Tommy manages to swallow down with a few more chews and teary eyes.

Following a slow gulp, Tommy whines, "But I was hungry."

"Drink some water." Will suggests, focusing all of his attention on his little brother for the moment, "Then take another bite in a little bit.

Tommy repeats, dragging out the words, "But I'm hungry now."

"Tommy." He orders tersely, "Just do as I say, and then..."

Suddenly, peas are being flung right at his head like a target.

Plucking verdant vegetables out of his hair, Will questions, "Who threw that?"

"She did it." The girls blame in harmony, pointing fingers at each other.

"Ugh, I am never having kids."

A mischievous glint is shining in Mia's eyes with a snicker. Ava shoots her a knowing look.

"Ava, Mia, keep eating."

"Or what?" Mia challenges.

The toddler pipes up, adding, "Yeah."

"Or you two are going in time out. Mia gets six minutes. Ava gets two."

"Hey!" Mia wonders, "How come Ava's time outs are shorter?"

Tommy whispers, telling his sister, "Because she's the baby. Now you know how I feel."

"Aw, man." Mia agrees, patting her brother's shoulder in consolation, "Sorry."

Ava tilts her head, brown locks brushing against the granite countertop with dimples pooling in her cheeks.

"Cute doesn't work on me, kid." Her brother warns, mentioning again, "Keep eating or timeout."

"Fine," She grumbles, picking up her fork adorned with Ariel, the little mermaid.

The kids successfully ate a healthy portion of the respective dinners, but not with leaving a tornado of a mess in their wake. Peas and dice carrots line the floor, Remnants of hot cheese are caked on bowls and plates. Thankfully, William doesn't have to clean up alone. At six and eight, Tommy and Mia are starting to do more and more of their chores with a small allowance, teaching them responsibility and the value of a dollar. Something Oliver never learned until at least his mid-twenties. Mia and Tommy are on step stools helping their older brother dry and put away dishes. Ava on the other hand, wanted to color in the living room. While Will wishes he had eyes in the back of his head when he hears a monotonous sing-song humming and the vigorous swipe  back and forth from crayons, he knows his baby sister is safe.

During dinner at Corrado's, the Queens and the Disneys are well into the dinners. It's been such a nice, quiet together with friends. That is until Oliver brings up the notion of loaning his Ducati to William. Oliver's complete and utter use of bribery is a major sore point for Samantha, but her son does have his motorcycle license. And he's been practically groveling on both knees to get just an inkling of a chance top hop on the driver's seat of one. Besides he always wore his helmet and went within the speed limit when he road tested with both his parents, so provided William's safety remain intact, Samantha would allow William to borrow Oliver's bike. Matters are only made better when Felicity relieved her worry by noting she had Oliver install a minuscule gadget in the bike that not only uses GPS to track their son's location, but it can also alert them if he's speeding.

"Well." Samantha thinks, pursing her lips slightly, "I guess that does make me feel a little better."

"Mmhm." Felicity hums, her reply echoing in her wineglass.

She and Oliver exchange a doe eyed glance lovingly. Nearly ten years of marriage and they can still share glances as if time has stopped just for them in this very moment. Forks hit nearly empty plates with a soft clink. A final waiter heads to the couples' table with a dessert menu, fetching their dirty dishes to bring back to the kitchen. Felicity and Samantha opt for splitting a large, sweet slice of strawberry shortcake. Whereas, Oliver and Christopher opt for splitting a tiramisu.

 "Mmph... So Good." Oliver approves with a mouthful, holding out his fork, "Felicity, you want a bite?"

His wife obliges, "Sure."

However, right before Felicity can do just that, her phone vibrates in her champagne colored clutch.

"Felicity." Oliver heeds, enunciating every single syllable of his wife's name

"Oliver, my love. Will could need..." Paying her husband no mind, Felicity's eyes widen at the text, "We have to go _now_."

Worry is deep-seated in his wife's voice. God, help if another Wilson pops up out of the woodwork to threaten his family, Oliver's going to take that bastard down permanently.

"What's going on? Felicity, talk to me."

"Will, he-he, just sent a text that read S.O.S Come home now." Felicity explains, struggling to speak. Nervousness jolts her heart to that of a speedster or a cheetah, and causes her voice to jangle. Most of the Wilson family may be gone, but their destructive path for vengeance left an emotional scar that never quite healed properly.

"Okay, Okay. We don't know what's going on yet." Oliver rationalizes, pulling his wife into a quick reassuring hug. "Let's just get home. I uh..."

Christopher steps in, offering, "We'll pay the bill."

"And we'll meet you there as soon as we can," Samantha continues.

Oliver tells her, "Don't worry please."

Honestly, he doesn't know whether or not he said that for Samantha and Felicity's benefits if he's simply trying to convince himself. Maybe it's a bit of both. Either way, he and Felicity have to get home as soon as possible. Memories flash of each of their kids. William, learning to drive, despite how scared Oliver was. Tommy learning to code his name with a puppy-like Cisco invented. Mia riding her little lavender bike without the training wheels, and Ava wanting to learn the periodic table as opposed to the alphabet. As headlights shine on the darkened drive. The fear hasn't left Oliver or Felicity's bodies, although it sparks a need, a desire of pure focus to save their kids from whatever possible danger could be lurking in there. They sprint to the front. Damn it, that's not exactly an easy feat for Felicity in four inch heels. Sure to have blisters by morning, she discards he shoes in the nearby bushes. Thank goodness, there are no signs of a break-in evident by the closed, untampered with front door, the hinges creak, Oliver and Felicity don't know whether to laugh, cry, or yell. They find William tied to a chair with jump ropes and his mouth gagged with one of Oliver's ties. His annoyed grunts are muffled behind the silk fabric. Yet, this hostage situation isn't the work of an attacker. No, there are only three culprits to blame, and their names are Tommy, Mia, and Ava Queen.

"What is going on in here?!" Felicity wonders, using her loud voice.

Yanking the tie off William, Oliver prompts, "Son, what the Hell..?"

"Ooh, Daddy swore," Tommy accused in interruption.

"Ah, not a peep out of you 'til we hear what's going on." His mother chides, fighting the urge to wag her finger at him.

"Peep." Mia pipes up devious, earning her a glare from her father.

"William, explain what happened. I thought you said you could handle all three of them on your own."

"I could." He answers, elaborating, "Until the rugrats went all savage on me."

Upon untying William, the teenager runs through the entire story piece by piece. First, Ava grabbed a spare red pen from Felicity's home office, initially pretending to be her mother.

"I'mma boss." Ava smiles radiantly, scribbling on panda shaped sticky notes, "Like Mommy."

William chuckles at his little sister, eyes flickering to Mia and Tommy who were playing polite as they pretend to save spare Mr. Square Bear from the Joker. But when Ava decides to take her scribbles to the wall instead of a note pad. That pen isn't just a writing instrument. No, in the hands of a toddler, a red pen becomes a weapon of mass destruction. Misshapen doodles adorn the once crisp white walls slowly.

"Ava Marie!" Her brother shouts, demanding, "Stop that this instant."

She shrieks, continuing to draw on the walls "Nooo! Bad brother."

After running around like a chicken with his head cut off, William manages to catch up with his youngest sister. He's relieved have ceased her ministrations, but not with leaving a huge mess in the aftermath of Ava's terrible twos. That earned her a two minute timeout, and in the midst of cleaning, Mia and Tommy really, really wanted to play Cowboys vs. Legends, but William said no because he has to tend to Ava's mess first. That doesn't sit well with his younger siblings, and he certainly couldn't use his strength or his hands against them. It isn't right. Plus his dad and stepmom would've had a conniption fit, if he had done so. Lack of action sadly results in him being tied to a chair and gagged. If this babysitting disaster is any indication, Oliver and Felicity have got to stop talking about their work in the Arrow cave. The plan began with the idea of telling each of the children individually after their eighteenth birthdays, but that snowballed rapidly after William found out the truth. In serious need of some discipline for misbehavior by not mind their brother, Ava would have to help clean up the walls tomorrow. Tommy and Mia are grounded for two weeks with a toy taken away. They also had to both write an apologetic letter to their brother, and each Queen kid has an earlier bedtime with the exception of William.

"Well, I don't blame you if you never want to babysit again." Felicity states, claiming, "They're usually so well behaved."

"Because of you and Dad, with me they saw as an easy target."

Felicity nods bashfully. Date nights for Oliver and Felicity have a way of unplanned surprises due to their night jobs as Green Arrow and Overwatch. Little did they know, their evening could be just as easily dismantled by their rambunctious kids, playing superheroes like Mommy and Daddy as well as a case of the terrible twos and a red pen. Regardless of what went onto, William still agrees to babysit in the future, provided he have a warning and some backup first.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy holidays, everyone.  
> Reviews and Kudos are appreciated.  
> Say hey, and please let me know what you think in the comments.  
> Tumblr: [DMichelleWrites](http://dmichellewrites.tumblr.com/)  
> Twitter: [@dmichelleca](https://twitter.com/dmichelleca)


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